Disjointed figures laze in the afternoon sun and recline bikini clad as they accept drinks from fully dressed figures. We re-live the heyday of 1950’s Americana.

Carbon 12 is proud to present Gil Heitor Cortesão’s third solo exhibition, Out of Season. The new paintings of Cortesão, maintain the aqueous dimensions and his signature corrosion of subject and image present in his past works, but the decay is deeper this season.

Cortesão’s figures were once wraiths in the background, the figures now stand boldly in their corporal domination of the scenes. They are the vision of decay and the subject of undulating plains of existence. Like water, the figures endlessly move within their form, never fully contained or still.

Ideas of the uncanny – the everyday in a strange, off putting and sometimes mysterious – way makes us look at the panels closely. At first, 2 one at a time and then altogether in an attempt to put together some psychological puzzle that is just outside of comprehension. We are presented with a known scene, albeit maybe you or I have never lived it, but we understand the tableau through a collective unconscious thanks to global commercialism and advertising. Yet the picturesque moments and the people are decomposing. As photorealistic and precise as Cortesão is with brush in hand he smears, drips, and masks the pristine image underneath. The edges are fraying and people are cut in two as an ominous air begins to envelop the work and we are left with an atmosphere of the end of time.

Questions of the status of the image, but also of the fabricated memory are challenged. This never really was a status quo or “real”, yet “I am nostalgic for a moment that I have never lived”. His representations are on the edge of decomposition, as if it were no longer possible to extract anything else from them other than the sight of their implosion.

Cortesão choice to paint onto acrylic (plexiglass), a transparent material often used as a substitute for glass, creates a layer of liquid dimension and separation from his works. The painting that the spectator sees is an image on the other side of the acrylic (plexiglass). The surface we look at has never been touched by the artist; we are on the outside looking in. Much like a window each panel provides, us, the voyeur, with a coveted chance to see someone else while remaining unseen ourselves.

Each image is a snapshot, an alternative existence, fading away into time.

Born in 1967 in Portugal, Gil Heitor Cortesaõ is an established international artist living in Lisbon. He draws his inspiration from old photographs, magazines and postcards from the 1950’s and 60’s. The original conception for his paintings starts with a found image and slowly evolves from there. The image could be used promptly or found again only after years have passed.

XVA Gallery is pleased to announce the solo exhibition of Iranian born, New York based, artist Samira Abbassy. This is the first time Abbassy will exhibit her work in the UAE. The exhibition will open with a reception for the artist on Saturday February 7th, 2015, from 6-9pm. She will be available for interviews and tours from the 5th - 9th February, 2015.

The exhibition will consist of oil paintings on canvas or gesso panel, accompanied by works on paper, from 2009-2014. Abbassy’s works are very process based, exploring ideas of cultural identity as expressed through self-portraits and re-interpreted stories of her homeland. Abbassy states ‘I use self-portraiture as a way of examining and defining myself in a constantly shifting cultural context. Although seemingly autobiographical, the figures are not me, but “the archetypal self”. “The Self” is examined as a phenomenon which combines autobiographical, cultural, psychic and chemical aspects, in which events/ narratives become incorporated into or cause dismemberment of the body.’

About the Artist:

Samira Abbassy was born in Ahwaz, Iran & moved to London, UK as a child. After graduating from Canterbury College of Art, she began exhibiting in London. In 1988 she moved to New York to help establish & found the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Studio Program NY, where she currently has lifetime tenure and is a board member.

Her NY solo show in 2007 was reviewed by Benjamin Genocchio in the New York Times and by Ariella Budek in Newsday. In Sept/Oct 2012, Nisa Qasi interviewed Abbassy for the Financial Times lifestyle section.

Her work is shown internationally and has been acquired for private and public collections, including: the Metropolitan Museum, the British Museum, the British Government Art Collection, the Burger Collection, the Donald Rubin collection (Rubin Museum, NY), the Farjam Collection, Dubai, the Devi Foundation, India & the Omid Foundation, Iran.

Her awards include: a Yaddo residency fellowship in 2006, a NYFA in 2007 & a Joan Mitchell Painting/Sculpture award in 2010 and a Pollock-Krasner award in 2014. In April 2012 she was the artist in residence at the University of Virginia & has recently been nominated for the Jameel Prize.

In September 2014 her work was included at the Istanbul Art Fair with the Todd Hosfelt gallery. Upcoming shows in 2015 include a solo show at the Bernstein Gallery, (Woodrow Wilson Schl,) Princeton University, as well as a solo show at XVA galley, Dubai. Also in 2015, the work aquired by the Metropolitan Museum will be on show from Feb - May. Other group shows in 2015 include: “Azadi va Edalet”: Stories Retold by Contemporary Iranian Women Artists at The Oglethorpe University Museum of Art - Atlanta, GA, and “Bittersweet”(curated by Jaishri Abichandani) at the Peabody Essex Museum, MA, as well as a curated show by Souhad Rafey at FiveMyles gallery, Brooklyn. Currently a bequeathment to the British Museum by Dr Diana Lipton is in process, which will be the museum’s second acquisition.

About the XVA Gallery:

Established in 2003, XVA is one of the leading galleries in the Middle East that specializes in contemporary art from the Arab world, Iran and the Subcontinent. Exhibitions focus on works by the regions foremost artists as well as those emerging onto the scene. The gallery’s artists express their different cultural identities and perspectives while challenging the viewer to drop prejudices and borders. XVA Gallery exhibits both locally and internationally; collaborating with galleries and participating in international art fairs, such as Art Basel Hong Kong, SH Contemporary, Singapore Art Fair and Abu Dhabi Art in 2014, in order to further expose Middle Eastern contemporary art.

XVA Gallery and XVA Art Hotel are located in Dubai’s heritage district, now called Al Fahidi Historical Neighborhood. XVA founded and organized the Bastakiya Art Fair from 2007- 2010 as part of its commitment to raising the profile of contemporary art practice in Dubai. For three years XVA was located in DIFC, and has now expanded its premises in Al Fahidi.

Over the last eight years, Art Dubai has become a cornerstone of the region’s booming contemporary art community. Recognised as one of the most globalised meeting points in the art world today, Art Dubai places an emphasis on maintaining its intimate, human scale while foregrounding quality and diversity.

Art Dubai is part of Art Week, an umbrella initiative that showcases the broad programme of cultural events that now coincide with the fair each March, the most dynamic time in the UAE’s cultural calendar. Special events include Design Days Dubai, the only fair in Asia dedicated to product and furniture design; Sikka, a fair run by Dubai Culture and Arts Authority, dedicated to new work by UAE-based artists; and Galleries Nights, featuring over 40 new exhibitions across Al Quoz and the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC); plus other projects, museum shows and major events throughout the Emirates, Qatar and the Gulf.

Art Dubai is held in partnership with The Abraaj Group and is sponsored by Cartier and Emaar. Madinat Jumeirah is home to the event.
The Dubai Culture and Arts Authority is a strategic partner of Art Dubai, and supports the fair’s year-round education programme.
Art Dubai Modern 2014 is sponsored by Mashreq Private Banking.